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"EPA Tweaks Proposed Boiler Rule, Zeroes in on Largest Emitters"

"U.S. EPA [Friday] released a reworked package of proposed rules to tackle toxic emissions from 201,000 of the largest boilers and incinerators nationwide, hoping to clear up complaints from manufacturing groups as the agency clamps down on the industrial boilers that are one of the largest U.S. sources of harmful air pollution."

"Manufacturers went to court when EPA, under orders from a federal court, finalized the long-delayed pollution limits this spring. Some companies that burn oil, coal, natural gas or biomass to provide their operations with heat and electricity urged Congress to intervene, saying their facilities could not meet the new limits on chemicals such as mercury, acid gases and dioxins.

Based on newly received data, the package released today by EPA includes slightly less stringent standards for carbon monoxide, particulate matter and metals, but stricter standards for mercury and acid gases, EPA air chief Gina McCarthy told reporters this morning. It also replaces the limits on cancer-causing dioxins with "work practice" standards, based on an analysis showing that dioxin emissions occur in such trace amounts that they cannot be accurately measured."